This patent application claims priority from a Japanese patent application No. 2000-220154 filed on Jul. 21, 2000, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing method for a packaging, the packaging, and a printing system thereof. The present invention especially relates to the printing method for the packaging accommodating a product to be distributed through a distribution system, the packaging, and printing system for the packaging on which information about the product is printed and used in the distribution system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A system for color printing on a carton accommodating cassette tapes and so on is conventionally disclosed (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. Hei. 8-119239). According to the conventional system, a subject copy for color printing is read by a CCD scanner. The scanned subject image is transmitted to a printer unit. The printer unit has an ink jet print head and prints the image according to the transmitted information on the carton. The invention published in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. Hei. 8-119239 discloses the printing that is preferable for the large item small scale production which applies printing using the ink jet print head as described above.
Information printed on a packaging is various information about the accommodated product. Each part of information requires each different printing condition determined by the contents of information. When more than one of information having different printing conditions are printed on a package at the same time, in most cases, the entire information is printed with the strictest printing condition such that all the demanded printing conditions are satisfied.
Information printed on a packaging often includes a bar code symbol for the dispatch unit code system defined by JIS for distribution. The bar code symbol is recognized by an optical reading apparatus, and processed for distribution. JIS defines PCS (print contrast signal) value, which is a ratio of reflectivity between a printed part and the rest of white part, and printing accuracy of a printed bar code. Conventionally, the bar code symbol has been difficult to print by ink-jet printing apparatus. If dye ink is selected for printing, the printed bar code blots and does not satisfy the required printing accuracy. If thermo plastic ink is selected, a surface of the printed part is glare, so that the reflectivity of the printed part is relatively high; therefore it does not satisfy a certain level of reflectivity. Only pigment ink may satisfy both the reflectivity and printing accuracy required by the dispatch unit code system in a certain condition.
An ink jet print head has a plurality of nozzles, and each of the nozzles ejects an ink droplets. The ink dots strike the surface to be printed and prints dots on the surface. To print the bar code symbol satisfying the reflectivity with pigment ink, the plurality of nozzles have to be provided in such an arrangement that no space is generated between the adjacent ink dots ejected on the printed surface; i.e. dot density of a printed part must satisfy a predetermined value. Otherwise, there would occur white strikes where no ink reaches onto the printed part. The dot density depends on the number of dots in a unit area and the size of each printed dot. The dot size does not depend on a volume of ink at each injection, but rather a distance between the nozzles and the surface of material to be printed. When the distance is increased, the ink dot expands and a gap between dots is filled, however, printing accuracy is not satisfied. If the volume of ink is increased keeping a certain distance the printed bar code symbol is not blotting around, the gaps between nozzles are not filled; therefore the printed bar of the bar code symbol satisfying required conditions cannot be formed.
For printing the bar code symbol in the minimum standard magnification, 0.6 times the standard size defined by JIS, a height of the bar code symbol becomes 26 mm. The print head for ink jet printing using the pigment ink conventionally includes 32 nozzles, and prints a maximum height of 70 mm. If the conventional ink jet print head is tilted for printing information solid-print like style without the undesirable strikes, the print head may print a character or a mark having only a maximum height of 20 mm. Therefore the bar code symbol may not be printed by one print head. If the bar code symbol is divided into two or more parts and printed by more than one print head separately, because the bar code symbol requires high accuracy in alignment; it is difficult to satisfy the required printing accuracy and alignment. Therefore, it is conventionally difficult to print a bar code symbol by the ink jet printing.
Recently, a print head with both high dot density and a long printing length has been developed, therefore an ink jet print head may be used for printing the bar code; however, the print head with high dot density and the larger printing region is relatively expensive.
Moreover, when the entire information is printed in the strictest condition by the ink jet print head, ink consumption unnecessarily increases, therefore a problem such as a printing cost rise and process time increase occurs.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a manufacturing method of a packaging, the packaging, and the printing apparatus, which is capable of overcoming the above drawbacks accompanying the conventional art. The above and other objects can be achieved by combinations described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous and exemplary combinations of the present invention.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a printing method for an ink jet printer to print first dot density information and second dot density information, comprises: arranging a plurality of print heads including two or more first print heads to have a first angular orientation for printing the first information, and at least a second print head to have a second angular orientation, different from the first angular orientation for printing the second information; printing the first information by the first print heads to obtain the first dot density; and printing the second information by the second print head to obtain the second dot density.
The printing methods may further has moving material to be printed in a direction in which the material to be printed is conveyed for printing the material with the first and second information, wherein each of the first print heads has a first angle with respect to the moving direction and the second print head has a second angle with respect to the moving direction, and the first angle is less than the second angle.
The first dot density is finer than the second dot density. The first information may be information recognized by an optical reading apparatus for distribution, and information for the optical reading apparatus is printed by the first print heads in the first dot density that reflectivity in a printed part, which is printed by the first print heads, satisfies a predetermined value required by the optical reading apparatus.
A plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink droplets included in the first print heads may be arranged in the first angle with respect to a direction in which a material to be printed is conveyed, and the first print heads print information for the optical reading apparatus at such reflectivity in a printed part printed by the first print heads that exceeds a predetermined value required by the optical reading apparatus.
The second information may be observed information, visually indicating type of a product accommodated in a package for a distribution on which the second and first information is printed, recognized by a person handling the packaging in the distribution, and the observed information is printed by the second print head, a plurality of nozzles included in the second print head is provided at the second angle for printing the observed information in a larger size than the first information.
Information for the optical reading apparatus may be divided into more than one regions in the direction perpendicular to a direction in which a material to be printed is conveyed, and each of the regions are printed by respective print head included in the first print heads.
Information for the optical reading apparatus may be a bar code symbol for a dispatch unit code system, the bar code symbol for the dispatch unit code system is divided into a bar code region including a bar code of the bar code symbol and a non-bar code region not including the bar code, and one of the first print heads prints the bar code region and another one of the first print heads prints the non-bar code region separately.
A bearer bar of a bar code symbol for a dispatch unit code may be previously solid-printed on a material the first information and the second information is printed on, information for the optical reading apparatus is a bar code included in the bar code symbol, and at least one of the first print heads prints, arranging the first print head is a position for printing the bar code, the bar code in the bearer bar.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, a printing method for an ink-jet printer, comprises: counting quantity of packaging being printed, acquiring a quantity symbol image corresponding to the quantity thus counted, acquiring a product information image providing information about the product accommodated in the packaging, super imposing the quantity symbol image and the product information image for generating an printing image to be printed on the packaging, and printing the printing image on the packaging using an ink jet print head.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, a printing method for an ink jet printer, printing a bar code symbol for a dispatch unit code of a product on a packaging for distribution of the product, comprises dividing the bar code symbol into a bar code region including a bar code of the bar code symbol and a non-bar code region not including the bar code of the bar code symbol, and printing the bar code region and the non-bar code region separately using respective print heads.
The printing method for an ink-jet printer may further has initially solid-printing a bearer bar of the bar code symbol on the packaging, and after the solid printing, printing a bar code of the bar code symbol in the bearer bar.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a packaging for accommodating for distribution of a product, comprises: information about the product for distribution printed on the packaging, information being divided into first information and second information, wherein the first information is printed in a first dot density by a plurality of first ink jet print heads, and the second information is printed in a second dot density by at least a second ink jet print head.
The first information may be information recognized by the optical reading apparatus for distribution, and information for the optical reading apparatus is printed in a predetermined dot density for satisfying reflectivity of a printed part, the reflectivity exceeding a predetermined value required by the optical reading apparatus.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, a packaging for accommodating a product for distribution, comprises: a bar code symbol of a dispatch unit code printed on the packaging, the bar code symbol having a bar code region including a bar code of the bar code symbol and a non-bar code region including the rest of the bar code symbol other than the bar code region, wherein: the bar code region and the non-bar code region are separately printed by respective ink-jet print heads. The packaging for accommodating a product may further has a previously solid-printed bearer bar.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a printing system for ink jet printing, comprises: a plurality of first ink jet print heads for printing first information on material moved in a direction, each of the first print heads having a plurality of nozzles to have a first angle with respect to the moving direction for printing a predetermined dot density for being recognized by an optical reading apparatus for distribution; and a second ink jet print head for printing second information in a larger size than the first information, having a plurality of nozzles arranged to have a second angle with respect to the moving direction, different from the first angle.
At least one of the first angle and the second angle may be adjustable for adjusting positions of the first information and the second information on a material to be printed for adjusting a position on a material to be printed of a bar code symbol for a dispatch unit code. Each of the first ink jet print heads and the second ink jet print head may be structurally the same. Each of the first ink jet print heads and the second ink jet print head may include a same number of ink jet nozzles. The dot density may satisfy a condition that reflectivity in a printed part, which is printed by the first ink jet print heads, exceeds a predetermined value required by an optical reading apparatus for distribution.